Blog Comments & Posts

Great WBF Rand and kudos to you for rocking that GB jersey in Seattle ;)

We have been using a similar strategy for a while now and have developed long lasting relationships with influential bloggers in our space.

Here are few tips from our experience with this strategy:

When you find an influencer looking for advertisers, look at their outbound links. Its a good sign if they currently link to sites in your niche or industry often, in a genuine and non-spammy way

Create relevant content based on their specific interests that you know would make sense for them to share. Don't demand or even pitch anything, simply let them know that your content could be useful to their readers

Have a set plan for social engagement but don't force anything. Again you can search to see how active they are. If the publisher/blogger doesn't have a social presence, offer some help to get them started

Don't forget about the ads. If the publisher is willing to give you a heads up on upcoming content, match your CTAs/ads and landing pages to drive clickthrus and conversions. Split test as well

Avoid long term agreements if you can

If it makes sense, pitch a PPC scenario. If they are asking for $150 per month and they have 15000 unique visitors at 0.1% click-thru rate, you could safely offer to pay $10 per click. That way you are building the relationship with the influencer and still earning on your leads.

This stuff definitely works, but not all of the time. Some publishers are just selling ads and thats where the business relations ends. That's fine, don't burn bridges, just thank them for their time and move on. The key is to limit your risk by doing your homework and advertising on sites that you know will appreciate your content and share it organically.

Solid post, thanks. Its amazing how something as basic and ancient as a chair or a swimming pool can still be redesigned with the user in mind, to produce something new that maintains its purpose while becoming even more functional and useful.

Great WBF guys, thanks! I really like the recommendation to mix up the text used social posts, rather than sticking to the dreadful Title + Link + Via/Mention formula, which is just flat out lazy. I like to extract key points/quotes from the article/post and include that in the social share and then test to see which post got the most relevant mileage.

Quick question regarding sharing others' content vs. sharing your own. What do you think is a good ratio or does it even matter? For example, right now I'm sharing about 10 posts from other sites for every one post from our own site. Am I diluting my own content by sharing too much from others?

Hey Cyrus, your WBFs are always so good man, kudos on another great one. I like how you addressed 'do good link building' as #1 thing to do, its clearly not dead.

Your comparison of link building to basketball is intriguing and pretty darn accurate. The Olmec people played basketball 500+ yrs ago and apparently the Aztecs played a similar game but with decapitated skulls (link building ain't easy yo) but the first formalized basketball game with set rules that we know of (started by a Canadian!) wasnt played until the 1890s and since then even more rules have been changed.

The point is the link building/earning/acquisistion game is always changing so its imperative we stay on our toes and try not get our heads chopped off and dunked for 2 points by the next guy! The one thing i disagree with is Google being the 'referee' because they haven't shared their rule book with the players. The rules of link building are concealed therefore calculated discovery is the only way to gain an advantage over the next player. The referee is more like the 'The Computer' in the 80s tabletop game Paranoia where the rules are considered "classified" and demonstrating knowledge of the rules is considered treasonous (i'm so lame for knowing about that game).

Great WBF Rand and Awesome Article Scott! This is solid advice for us all to vocalize the true intrinsic value of what we do, up front to my clients without fear of rejection or loss. Capital flows to wherever its most comfortable and since inbound marketing is proven to be highly effective its value has risen over time and competition for success has increased. The bar must be raised in regards to the time, human resources and capital required from clients, coupled with with a firm commitment to continually provide the necessary resources for the remainder of the business' life cycle.

I think some of our clients may be spoiled from cashing in during the heydays, so its imperative they undergo a paradigm shift to recognize the real resources associated with sustainable visibility in today's SERPs. Effective SEO should no longer come at a discount when compared to traditional marketing channels. It doesnt help that our industry is riddled with crafty sales people selling rabbit poop and calling it chocolate.

Agreed that you should really get yourdomainGTLD.com as well if you are looking to build a brand from scratch.

Gtlds arent some new source gold but i think ppl will eventually phase out of the .com/.net/.org mindset and view .gtld whatever as the norm. (10+ years from now is what i mean by 'eventually')

The way i see it, gtlds mean shorter domain names for users to type and a new mode of entry for clever marketers to build web properties. I'm new to the search business so stuff like this is great for ppl like me.

Thanks for the site:.gtld operator tip. I just checked .center and one result popped up lol.

What I found interesting was the initial surge that came after the .guru release and how it seems the novelty seems to have worn off a bit with the latest releases. I don't know why but when i hear .guru i think of that Mike Myers movie The Love Guru (i think im the only person who watched that movie twice btw)

I agree there is real potential in transactional search terms like the city.gtld combo for niches. For my home city, Toronto.gtld is taken for just about everything. I like .land too because it seems to have that global branding appeal (gotta pay homage to Search Engine Land and Marketing Land ;)

Awesome post, thanks for the tips on the Email Permutator and Changedetection.com.

I'm newly appointed inhouse SEO and up until now I've been socializing online and sharing content with in my employers niche only. The problem is I want to establish myself as an inbound marketing authority as well and am worried that it will turn off potential linkers/sharers. What is a healthy balance of outreach for link building within my employers niche and building my status in the SEO community? Or is it better to keep them separate?

The reason I ask, is because I eventually want to get a job working for a digital marketing firm or run my own business in this space. I don't plan on staying inhouse forever.

Some experts have recommended to blend the two personalities into one, rather than setting up separate social identities. What do you think is the best approach?

Thanks for posting that Wil Reynolds speech btw, that guy is pure badass! After his Whiteboard Friday a few wks ago I was like wtf does RCS stand for?? So I googled it and couldn't find anything. Now I know it means Real Company Shhhhhiiiii.....Stuff